नहीं अंतिम शब्द

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I’m sure I’ll be writing about Hindu vegetarians (shakahari) again in the future, but for now I feel like a dead horse has been kicked enough. Plus, I have other posts and series I’m hoping to get moving on.

As usual, my goal was to cover something thoroughly and, because nothing in life is truly isolated, often that means I end up covering more than the actual topic I intend to write about. I don’t like to leave hanging anything that might cause questions for readers. I can only imagine the confusion my many rabbit trails cause. Please know, dear readers and sweet friends, if you’re able to keep up with my long-winded babbling you are almost certainly ahead of the game.

My entire goal was to detail how nearly unnecessary vegetarianism is to being a “good” Hindu. It helps. It’s definitely preferable. It’s something that should be far more natural to humans that it currently seems to be. But it’s not necessary. In fact, there are some sources that indicate that even inside the borders of India as much as 80% (an even higher percentage, according to some sources) of all Hindus consume meat – and those figures are considered to be a little off on account of some fibbing, saying they don’t eat meat just to save face. Certainly the percentage increases with Hindus who are found in nations where flesh foods are the major source of nutrition. Many will attempt to deny this because of a romanticized idea of what it means to be a “good” Hindu.

I’m telling you that other steps we take on our journey to our Source are weightier when it comes to gauging and encouraging our individual and collective progress. Vegetarianism is meant to be a byproduct, an aside – the result of something bigger. If that “something bigger” doesn’t properly start from within, the karmic results will be disappointing. Please believe.

I said early into this series that I would never be pressuring anyone to adopt vegetarianism; that remains true and will continue to be true of me. However, I’ll use this here sentence to gently encourage the good people who read my words to seriously consider it. Even more important, is for those of us who have already come to a vegetarian conclusion to afford fellow humans the same compassion we extend to other conscious creatures among us. Vegetarianism is an outward practice and is not enough to make anyone better than anyone else – search your soul places and be sure you’re as good as you think you are.

Aum Mahaganeshaya Namaha
Aum Shanti